Yorkshire sign charter to support Muslim members following racism row

Yorkshire have signed a charter committing them to recognising the needs of their Muslim players, staff and supporters.

The club are awaiting sanctions over their handling of allegations of racism and bullying by former player Azeem Rafiq and a failure to address systemic use of racist and discriminatory language over a prolonged period.

The Rafiq case led to major changes in the club’s leadership, with Lord Kamlesh Patel appointed chair in November 2021 and overseeing a raft of governance changes before he stood down in March this year.

That has included working with Nujum Sports, a group which seeks to challenge clubs and organisations to make progress in supporting Muslim sportsmen and women, for over a year.

Now Yorkshire have signed up to Nujum’s Muslim Athlete Charter.

There are 10 points contained within the charter, such as providing space for non-consumption of alcohol, including during celebrations, the provision of appropriate places to pray, halal food, and accommodating staff and players who are fasting during Ramadan.

Yorkshire’s equality, diversity and inclusion manager Mo Hussain said: “The pledge is another step in fulfilling our commitment to becoming a truly inclusive club.

“Alongside our multi-faith space, providing non-alcohol family stands, and provision of halal food, our player changing spaces have also been upgraded to ensure the religious and cultural needs of our players can be met.

“We have been working closely with Nujum Sports for more than a year and look forward to developing this relationship further.”

Yorkshire have admitted four charges in total related to the racism scandal, with a Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) panel holding a sanctions hearing on June 27.

Six former Yorkshire players were sanctioned by the CDC last month in relation to the same case, with a seventh – former England captain Michael Vaughan – cleared at the end of March of using racist language towards Rafiq and three other Yorkshire players of Asian ethnicity.